Abraham ZEWITZ was born about 1727 in , , PA.10 He died on 18 Apr 1777 in Allentown,
Lehigh, PA.10 He died in
the Revoluntionary War.10
Parents: George ZEWITZ and Barbara.

George ZEWITZ was born about 1695 in Strasbourg, Bas-Rhine,
Alsace, France.10,15 In 1731 he was a miller in Center Valley, Lehigh, PA.15 The stone mill at Center Valley,
Lehigh, PA (Highway 309 east 10 miles of Allentown) was built by George ZEWITZ,
owned by Harry Geissinger, Modhill Chevilier, as a restaurant. It was torn down
about 1965. It may have been built as early as 1731 when he first acquired the
land (1730) or soon after. Records of Pennsylvania show John Chapman surveyed
the land in the name of George Zewitz, 150 acres of land on both sides of Saucon
Creek at present-day Center Valley. Also, J. Chapman received an order for a
survey from Jacob Taylor on 3 July 1731 (by order of Casper Wister). This was
part of a 300 acre tract, a warrant from he Penns to Casper Wister. Transfer
in 1737 of the full 300 acres to Zewitz; an additional 50 acres was added in
1738. Upon George's death in 1759, George Jr. got the mill, who sold 105 acres
but kept 44 1/2 acres which included the mill. George Jr. sold the remaining
land in 1768 and moved to North Carolina. He signed a will on 24 May 1759 in
Center Valley, Lehigh, PA. Extract from the will of George ZEWITZ
written 24 May 1759, probated 13 June 1759:

I do value my plantation with all the buildings thereon erected and the appurtances
thereunto belonging at the rate of seven hundred pounds. My son, Joseph, shall
remain in possession of my place as long as his agreement, concerning the rent
metions. My loving wife, Barbara, shall possess the house wherein I dwell during
her life, also three beds and two cows. Also meadow near the small house and
orchard near the mill, both to go back to the place on her death. Also the chest
in the room which I occupy, also all my pewter, my table, bedstead, my irson,
and earthen pots. To my daughter, Esther, 6 pounds as wages in place of the
cow I promised her. My children, Henry, John, George, Jacob, Mary, Abraham,
Joseph, and Esther shall divide residue of my personal estate equally. My children
shall divide all whatsoever equaly between them real and personal estate, deducting
whatever any of them has already received. My place shall be charged with 150
pounds interest from which my wife, Barbara, shall receive annually. My children,
or such child as can pay others their share, shall have my plantation, and maintain
it; otherwise it is to be sold

Executors: Joseph ZEWITZ and Henry Weber, who are to have 5 shillings per day.
Signed with mark .... X .... George ZEWITZ
Witnesses: Hans Musselman and Valentine Young He died in Jun 1759 in Saucan
Creek, Bucks, PA.10 He was
buried in Mennonite Cemetery.10
George ZEWITZ (Zavitz, Zavietz), the first to come to America, is reported to
have "lived within sight of the spires of the famous cathedral in Strasbourg,
France." As a Protestant, he and his family were part of a flood of immigrants
to the William Penn Colony where rights to religious freedom had been included
in the founding constitution as early as 1681. There is no specific documentation
that the Zavitz's were Mennonites on arrival although they were part of that
community once in America and after 1797 in Canada. Strasbourg seemed to be a
"safe haven" for many years to Anabaptists like the Mennonites. There
is no record of the death sentence against these individuals in Strasbourg.

Nevertheless, Protestants in that city felt the pull from the new world. The
Rhine was just two miles away with its access to Dutch religious freedom, ships
to America and there was news of British support for settlement. Undoubtedly,
the Zavitz's had heard much about the migration of tens of thousands of Palatine
Protestants down the Rhine to Holland and Britain and then on to a "good
life" in these colonies and Anabaptists, much attracted to the prospect
of escaping the harshness of European society, the lack of productive farm land
and the security to raise a family. They must also have been aware of the long
waits in refugee champs before ships would be available to take them, the thousands
who embarked who never made it to the new world, many as forty percent of those
attempting the crossing died of disease at sea and the settlement mismanagement
that plagued many who did survive the Atlantic crossing.

There is no record of George ZEWITZ and his wife, Barbara, on the immigrant ship
list nor of his arrival in Philadelphia. Since these records were started in
1727, we may assume he arrived before that time. The first record of him in
the new world is his purchase of three hundred acres in 1732 from a Caspar Wistar,
near Center Valley about 50 miles north of the city in a new district in a fertile
valley along the Saucon Creek, Upper Bucks county, about six miles south of what
was later to be the site of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. As a miller, he looked
for mill sites. He and the small group of Mennonite settlers he was with were
also influenced by the opening of the Durham Iron Works about fifteen miles away.
The local native tribes, Saucon, Lenni-Lenapes and Shawnees were friendly at
this time, and did not resist the arrival of these "white settlers"
in their hunting grounds.

About 1731, George built a grist mill in Center Valley, Pennsylvania. He naturalized
on 29 March 1735. George and Barbara died on the homestead, he in 1759 and she
about 1766. George's will was probated on 13 June 1759. He is buried in a Mennonite
Cemetery less than a mile south of his homestead. As the immigrant progenitor
he had lived about half of his life in Europe and half in Pennsylvania where
he experienced religious toleration. All of their eight children lived to adulthood
and married. Most were still in Bucks county, close to their parents. All probably
spoke German, exclusively. Parents: John
ZEWITZ and Catharina.

August Frederick ZOSCHKE was born on 27 Aug 1847 in
Pomerania.7,47 He immigrated in 1872 to America from Germany.25 He was naturalized in 1878.7669 In 1900 he was a farmer in Walter, Lac Qui Parle,
MN.47 Parents: Charles Heinrich ZOSCHKE and Henrietta
MILCKE.

John ZOSCHKE was born on 24 Feb 1883 in , Roberts,
SD.26,671 South Dakota Births, 1856-1903 lists John ZOSCHKE
as being the son of August Frederick ZOSCHKE and Frederike LOROFF, not Whelhelmina
(?). In 1920 he was a general farmer in Liberty, Dickinson, KS.7 He died in Sep 1966 in Denver, Denver, CO.26 Parents: August
Frederick ZOSCHKE and Fredericke LOROFF.